I thought that the Stono Rebellion was super interesting! To see how the slaves over came their Masters and raided stores, gaining weapons, and hitting drums increasing their people and holding off against the whites was super important. I feel that if I was in that position I would've wanted to rebel also but I often wondered if enough of the blacks grouped up would they have taken over a capital or a camp where they could hold off?

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Isaac Fernandez

9/18/2014 12:58:33 am

Yeah! I though it was insane!

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Morgan

9/18/2014 02:43:48 am

ya i agree isaac

Ryan Cormack

9/17/2014 08:30:11 am

I thought that the story of Priscilla was really interesting. Not only because of the way she got to America and her being so young and growing up as a slave, but the fact that she is one of the only documented slaves with some sort of ancestry or family tree. Most slave owners tried to erase any ties or family names, so a lot of people can't trace back their heritage. Thats what really got me, that some peoples family trees stop when slaves were brought to America. I had never thought about that before and it really struck me. I wonder how many other slaves have a documented family tree.

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Mikayla Kricfalusi

9/17/2014 01:41:30 pm

That's an interesting point. I wonder what Priscilla would have thought if she knew how much knowledge of her existence pleased her great great great grand daughter.

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Emily Dingman

9/17/2014 08:49:29 am

I found the story about Priscilla and her great + grandchildren finding their way bad to her. It explained in great depth how most African American's to this day can not properly trace back their ancestry history fully to know where they came from. I mostly found it interesting that the master would have kept the time and books to fill it full of his slaves family. Why would he want that? Maybe to just take tract of it but it is quite peculiar that he would take his time to fill pages with his slaves family as it grew. I also found it really fascinating that Haiti was the first country to be over thrown by the slaves and taken as their own as I had never been told that before. It also intrigued me for the New Orleans parade that they towns people do to wake others up, and how it is connected to Haiti's story of how the slaves finally became free.

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Piper Tompkins

9/17/2014 09:10:16 am

I found the aspect of the movie where they talked about the slaves rebeling and burning down plantations very intriguing and dark. I think the escaping slaves knew there was no chance of this being a success, but they did it as a statement to show they could fight back. It really sheds light on how far they were being pushed and to the point where they stole weapons and ammunition and decapitated the shop owners. Instead of just sneaking out and meeting up and escaping, they killed slave owners and caused so much destruction. I think they wanted to give back all the pain and suffering they had been in through the years, but instead of escaping to freedom they were caught and chastised and many were beheaded. The slave owners pushed them to the breaking point and then when they caught them they instilled fear in every last one of them. And to think this only happened a couple hundred years ago.

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Srdja

9/17/2014 09:31:29 am

On the beginig, the interesting thing was how the europeans didn't want to slave each other because Christains never slave Christians. So they need to slave other races . I also wonder why masters had turture and hurt slaves for rebellion and running away. They could only disabled them for heir following work. So that could only cause a loss of money or something similarly. The ways that they punished them were horrible and disgusting. I didn't know that the George Washington, father of this country, was actually big slave owner. That really suprised me. This movie helped us to understand the contribution of the Africans to the USA culture. They brought culture and wonts that following generation inherit. Slaves also built the most of USA: their towns, cities, bridges, factories ect. That is really huge impact on current life.

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camila Antonorsi

9/17/2014 09:45:50 am

I thought that it was interesting how Haiti was the first all black republic and how that gave the people so much more hope!!! I thought that the fact that owners tried to make the slaves have no ties with there past sad. I know that they wanted to cut down there sprits, and make them have no hope. It is a special thing though that someone knows who her great x5 grandmother, Priscilla, when all ties of the family were supposed to not be recorded. i thought that the people had to be very brave and strong to run out and go on killing sprees for their freedom.
i thought that it was strange how the gang of like 100 men slaves were killed, i thought that they were property. Wouldn't there master be mad that the british army killed them? Did the british army not owe the masters new slaves?

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Kayla Feather

9/17/2014 09:56:14 am

I thought how Europeans treated the slaves on the way to the new world was really interesting. I was definitely sad and terrible. It was interesting how the crew treat them like nothing, yet would sleep with the women slaves. If they became pregnant, the women would abort the unborn child with nails or really anything. It would normally kill them. I feel that they have to have some pride to choose to try to get rid of the on born child or really brave because you lost your home, family, been turned into basically nothing, and then someone took away the last bit of you. I was wondering if Europe's culture was changed with slaves and when did they have slaves?

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Shea Saulino

9/17/2014 10:03:27 am

Think- I think that this was an incredibly well done production, but at the same time hurts to watch. When I learned about how slaves were treated, especially women slaves, it hurt me to watch.

Feel- I felt a connection between the movie "12 Years a Slave" and real-life slavery. When Priscilla's story was being told I couldn't help but think back to Patsy in the movie.

Wonder- I wonder how white people who were anti slavery influenced the judicial system into banning slavery.

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Jenna Welsh

9/18/2014 12:44:08 am

This film was hard for me to watch to! But I think it would be a greater injustice to NOT bear witness to what happened.

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Chenoa Levy

9/17/2014 10:31:33 am

I thought it was interesting how the slaves managed to create a culture through slavery. Although the slave masters took them from their home and prevented them from practicing many of their customs, they still found ways to incorporate them into their new lives. I think the reason why they tried so desperately to separate the slaves from their culture was so they would feel helpless and have nothing to turn to in their time of need. But, despite all that they managed to bring some of their culture to America and paved the way to modern day black culture. I think it really shows how the slaves persevered through so many hardships and were able to create good out their struggles.

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Michele Moua

9/17/2014 11:03:42 am

The video was very eye opening, it focuses on the development of the african american culture even with the brutal suppression of slave owners. It brings up the important theme of hope and persistence and after watching it almost feel enlightened. I still have many unanswered questions and wonderings. Where there any slaves that enjoyed (or didn't hate/dread their life) What would our lives be like if slavery were still around? Back then was everyone so tough, cruel and brutal, or are we only shown one side of a slave owners life?

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Noah Parr

9/17/2014 11:09:33 am

I though that was very interesting that Priscilla survived, and that her life line is still going to this day. I feel like she must of been really tough, and that her family must have had struggles trying to survive, but once they got free, her family could expand evermore. I guess I wonder how many other blood lines that are connected to the slaves do we know about, and how many do we know?

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Isaac Fernandez

9/18/2014 01:01:01 am

I thought the lifeline part was really crazy too. I'm sure there are slave owners who's name didn't carry, let alone a slave!

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Nicole King

9/17/2014 11:10:49 am

I really got a lot out of this clip I got to see. I thought it was very interesting and I took a lot away from it. Like how Africans inslaved their own people before the Europeans did. And that they seperated the male and female slaves apart so that the white men could rape the females, but someone of the female slaves would stick a nail or a stick up where there body would get messed up, some of them would die. When that happened they just threw their body over the boat. Like it was nothing. I really took interest in Pracilla as well. She was 10 when she was forced to be a slave but she and her generation all survived it. I thought that was pretty interesting. I now have a better understanding about the history of the slaves. I just took so much from that video and I have a better understanding of it. I thought it was so great that the slaves formed a army and burnt down the plantations but then got caught and that's where it went down hill.

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Christian Klosterman

9/17/2014 11:27:00 am

I thought that the whole documentary was great. The story about Priscilla was VERY interesting. She defied all odds, getting sold when she was only ten years old and living past sixteen. And then she had kids, and those kids had kids, and she created a whole family tree. That was really amazing to me, since accomplishing one of those things as a slave were very rare, and her completing all of them is even MORE amazing.

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Kaeli Leoni

9/17/2014 11:29:13 am

One of the most interesting parts of the video we watched today was when the Africans revolted against the Americans and created their own country. Although their freedom came through terrible violence, it was still inspiring that they rose above their hard times and created their own nation. It gave many slaves in North America hope to one day achieve their own freedom and I think made them think that their dream of one day being free might come one day. I thought it was really great how the Africans were able set a goal of creating their own world and achieved it as well, which was something that many people failed to do in the past.

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Jenna Welsh

9/17/2014 11:36:48 am

This was such an eye-opening video for me. I think that the part about slaves in Africa was particularly mind-blowing. I know we've learned about slavery in Africa, but it was horrible (but intriguing) that the African man in the video spoke so nonchalantly about it. When I picture slavery, I always picture African-Americans being oppressed and injustice by whites, but rarely do I picture Africans oppressing each other. The man in the video mentioned that it was based on ethnic prejudice, which was something that I had never considered. We don't talk about it a lot, but I still believe it is prevalent today.

I felt absolutely sickened when the video mentioned the plight of the female slaves on the ships over to America. We've talked about it several times in class, but it never ceases to deeply disturb me. The detail that these women were so desperate to save their unborn child that they would perform abortions on themselves was disconcerting but understandable, particularly when they had just undergone a brutal rape.

I want to know more about the history of Haiti! It's so cool to me that Africans were able to form their own functioning society when the rest of the world dismissed them as subhuman. I also loved watching their traditional Mardi Gras performance. I visited New Orleans (one of my favorite places) a few years ago, and got to witness first hand the rich culture Haitians have. I wonder how these traditions came about.

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Hesham Hamed

9/17/2014 11:59:03 am

The part that struck me in the video was how Haiti was created. There were so many slaves that they overran their masters and killed most of them and the rest of the slave owners ran away. It was inspiring to many that slaves took over a country and made it theirs. Slaves that heard about this event felt inspired to to the same.

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Adrien De Luna

9/17/2014 12:23:13 pm

The part that struck me was the fact that women used to kill their unborn babies. I thought that it was really depressing that they do such a thing. It surprised me even more because some of the women actually died attempting to do it.

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Jack Campbell

9/17/2014 12:23:20 pm

The documentary was very well done, it covered a lot of information on slavery and how it came to be. I thought it was very interesting how they covered slavery from its origins and how it evolved over time, with it starting from Africans selling other Africans to the English, Protegees, and Spanish transporting and using slaves for profits. I feel that it told the story of slavery well through the stories of individuals who experienced slavery. While watching it, with mentioning of the Spanish invitation to slaves for freedom and the revolts, I wondered what I would do in that situation.

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Dillon Prescott

9/17/2014 12:26:24 pm

I thought that the fact that Priscilla's family was one of the only African american lines to ever be traced back to the original arrival in the states is just amazing. One simple act of one owner documenting all the births and deaths of all of his slaves, and even who they were born to helped people track there ancestors down at later dates.

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Alexis Habib

9/17/2014 12:35:36 pm

When I look back to the time of slaves in the U.S, I think of the slave owners keeping good tabs on the slaves, them being the owners property after all, but I guess not, seeing as many lineages have not been successfully traced.
I feel that there should have been some ways for a slave to legally free themselves.
I wonder what the U.S would look like today if slavery was never a part of this country.

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Kendall Tally

9/17/2014 12:48:36 pm

It's amazing to think that this country was really built by the people who were enslaved. The extent that white masters went to erase that, stop them from having their own culture is pretty gross, then they are surprised when their slaves run away.

We wouldn't have some of what we do without the work of these people, taken from their homes and dehumanized, and that's sad. It's such a different time now, I do wonder how much better things will get in the future.

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Tristan Elghoroury

9/17/2014 01:28:10 pm

Yea I really hope that it only gets better because I definitely think that there are still some traces of racism today,which is sad. After everything that we've gone through.

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Eddie Herrera

9/17/2014 12:57:44 pm

What I thought about this film, it was overall informative and described what happened on both side. By both sides I am talking about the slaves and slave owners. I felt that the slaves could have revolted due to that face that there where many of them. I was bothered by the fact that George Washington who is known to have started the fundamentals of freedom, was the one who didn't want to acknowledge the slaves right to freedom. What really struck me is that our nation is molded by slavery and yet we don't see that. Slavery has a lot pro and cons such as it has created and lead to most of things that we have today, but the lives of thousand were sacrificed. My wonder is at the time does the Pros outweigh the cons?

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Matt Rose

9/17/2014 01:04:59 pm

the most interesting part of the video we watched in class today was when all the revolts were happening, I really thought it was a positive time and that gave hope to the Slaves. This also answered my question I asked yesterday in the communication corner when I asked “Do you think slaves still have that little part of themselves that think they will become free, or do you think that is gone.” I am now certain that they still have that part of themselves with them. It is because even though most of the rebels that tried to free themselves failed, they still kept their heads up and continued fighting back which definitely payed off in the end, and all those deaths were not for nothing.

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Jackson Sjogren

9/17/2014 01:09:05 pm

I thought it was very interesting to learn about how africans would enslave each other. I was dumbfounded when I heard the video talk about, how other africans would sell there african slaves to the english. I wonder if these african slave owners would still sell these slaves to the english, if they new ahead of time what these men and women would have to endure?

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Abby Elliott

9/17/2014 01:19:37 pm

I found this film to be very eye opening! This film informed us that tracking one’s existence back to a slave is a rare find. It is amazing that a living American woman has been able to track her family back to a 10 year old slave named Priscilla. The most painful part of this film was learning about the methods women used to prevent pregnancy and the fate of many of them-death.

I wonder how many slave owners realized their wrong doings and stopped owning slaves even though society as a whole was accepting of it. Did any plantation owners actually sell their land and take up a new way of life?

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Morgan King

9/17/2014 01:20:13 pm

Today's documentary was remarkable and very interesting. It touched on many of the subjects that we know of slavery today, yet it went deeper. I didn't really know that africans sold their own kind to the whites, I didn't know that many african americans today, don't know the names of their original african ancestors. Overall, the one thing that really touched me was the story of Priscilla. I was a bit overwhelmed, when it said that her family is one of the limited few to know their genealogy. I want to know, would they have done things differently if the blacks were able to retaliate and enslave other whites?

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Tristan Elghoroury

9/17/2014 01:26:04 pm

oh that's a good question. I think that the blacks would have to get really organized to take over and since most of them were uneducated I think that would have been very difficult.

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Tristan Elghoroury

9/17/2014 01:23:28 pm

When I watched the video it really made me realize that slavery was no only in the U.S. but all over the America’s. The Haitian Republic also really surprised me and showed me the potential that any human being can have when he/she works together with others.I can barely imagine the courage it would take to rise up against your oppressor and go on to even kill him. Even though it was brutal, I totally think that it was the right thing to do because it was not even a fraction of the horrible atrocities that the whites had inflicted upon the slaves. This part of the story really gave me hope, just like it did to the other slaves that were not free, stuck on the colonial plantations.Food was also seemed to play a big part in the history of the blacks. I wonder if the slave owners enjoyed the meals that their slave cooks prepared for them.I also wonder if the later generations of white people hung onto those recipes and taught them to their children? I definitely think so, because in the south, all of these recipes are still used today. This was proved to us by Michael Twitty, a culinary historian, who showed us all of the meals, that even the famous Paula Deen cooks, that are all still eaten by whites and blacks alike in the U.S. today.

I had never knew much about the country of Haiti. Now that I know it was the first successful rebellion against slavery and then the Africans developed a country out of it is amazing! Seeing a lot of the pictures in the documentary really struck me. I would agree by far we had the cruelest form of slavery in history, and I can not imagine how white people felt back then participating in slavery. I was surprised that even after england supported slavery, they would allow for slaves to be free to fight in the revolution against america.

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Mikayla Kricfalusi

9/17/2014 01:39:44 pm

In 12 years a Slave, Solomon Northrup believes that white people were influenced by their culture from a young age. However, it is still hard to understand how slave masters justified their actions to themselves.

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Eli Murguia

9/17/2014 01:33:15 pm

Wow! This was such an insightful video! I really enjoyed watching it because of how the main speaker not only talked about all the history going on, but he also interviewed significant people, tasted and showed what slave food culture was like back then, and had lots of revisiting history by looking at how things are today. I also really liked learning about the 10 year old girl slave, Priscilla, and how she endured so much but she still survived and the main speaker was able to interview a decedent of her. It also really struck me when he talked about the Rebel Army and what happened to them and how they sabotaged and killed some white people and their property before they went to Fort Mose (I'm not sure how to spell that), only to get caught by an army of militia, shot, and decapitated.
This video was SUPER relevant as to what we are currently learning and I liked learning about the content that it covered.

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Eli Murguia

9/17/2014 01:39:56 pm

One thing that I wondered about the video was: Where did all this violence and hatred and discrimination towards the Black community come from? I understand that Europeans saw them as lower than a human status, but where did all the kind of hateful and almost bloodthirsty attitude towards the African Americans come from? Some white people had enjoyed whipping slaves and subjecting them to harsh environments, but why?

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Mikayla Kricfalusi

9/17/2014 01:37:47 pm

Watching this video, I was especially struck by the little pieces of irony thrown in. For example, slaves building American symbols of freedom like the statue on top of the Capital Building. Slaves truly did build America, and so much of culture today is built on the foundation created by slaves. Our great cities, and even our cultural traditions, like southern food, were all certainly influenced by slave culture. I feel a sense of awe and respect as I think of how cities like New Orleans and even Washington DC, were probably built in part by slaves. White people took credit for all of the work that went into building American heritage, but common knowledge seems to have forgotten the slaves part in it. I wonder what the slaves who were building American symbols were thinking? Did they think that it was ironic, their bondage creating these manifestations of freedom?

I thought that this film was really good for learning about African American history. I thought it was thought the way they treated the slaves on the ship was horrible. They were so compact together, and they could just sit there, so a lot of them died. I feel like the way they treated the woman on the ship was even worse. They could be raped at any time by one of the Europeans, and if they ended up pregnant some of them would get an abortion and use nails to do it or anything sharp, and they would sometimes end up killing themselves in the process. I wonder what history would look like if Africa took over Europe and used them as slaves?

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Chandler Gaines

9/17/2014 01:45:19 pm

So throughout the film the part that really struck me was the fact that the man said that many African slaves didnt have a family history it was often mixed up and diluted. And the fact that priscilla great grandchildren knew who she was just goes to show how hard and rare it is. She was a very lucky and rare occasion.

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Chloe R

9/17/2014 01:52:08 pm

Wonder feel think

Watching the documentary and reading Mikaylas commentary today makes me think about how we teach history. We give credit to a lot of different white men for being the founding fathers of America, when much of the country we live on today has been built by African slaves.

I feel frustrated because I know the winner writes history, but inspired by the fact that videos like this exist. Its really important the the guy who made the documentary cares so much about Black history, because today they lack representation or credit on the majority of platforms.

I wonder how the story of African Americans in American history will develop as we begin learning about post slavery america. Will the change in rights be rapid, or slow? Will we hear the names of more African american scientists and leaders or will they remain kept away from the educated elite until modern day?

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Rena

9/17/2014 01:59:54 pm

I found this really interesting. I never really thought about how big of a part slavery and African Americans had on American culture today. Today I was feeling philosophical and I was thinking about how the world today would be different, if the Africans enslaved the Europeans. I feel really bad for the people who were enslaved because of the way they were treated, I mean like I don't even think that the slaveowners have any sense of remorse, or kindness which is pretty much what categorizes humans as human, emotion.

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Emily Hayashida

9/17/2014 02:17:41 pm

This film was very eye opening, and I learned a lot about history concepts that are changed, almost in a sense where they are trying to make the white seem less guilty. From the film I learned that the first Africans in America, were there on their own will and were actually translators. I think that it's odd how from being equally respected, a certain race of people can be treated so inhumane. I feel like this is a detail almost left out of textbooks, you never necessarily hear the anguish of the slaves and their specific stories; like you do in this film. Hearing a story about the honest american history, really makes you want to make changes for the next generations, and at some point hopefully eradicate racism.

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Emily Hayashida

9/17/2014 02:19:19 pm

My wonder: Do you think that people actually rewrite history, to make others look better or is it always the truth?

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Alexis Miranda

9/17/2014 02:26:12 pm

I found this video to be very informative. It was super awesome and surprising when they showed the guy who wrote the letter to Paula Deen. It was also cool how he made the food that they served back then. You can really tell that he loves making food with passion. He really takes these kind of things seriously. Another part that was really eye opening for me was when they showed the ships full of slaves and how they were all cramped in, with no space to even strecth. The part when they talked about the women shoving nails into their pregnant bellies was really horrifying. They probably had to be fed up with getting tortured to be able to do that.

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Hunter Birk

9/17/2014 02:28:59 pm

I think its very interesting that England was making so many enemies, they where behind on the slave trade, behind on conquering land so what made them have some many enemies? I also think its interesting that even when they were trying to escape trying to sneak away they still played the drums. If I where in the in there position I would try and be quiet but they where so grounded in culture meant they had to play the drums and its almost saying that there masters could never take away there culture. I feel almost disgusted that people could treat another human in that manner, it makes you sick to think a ten year old would witness something so traumatic and still life on, still partake in working. It takes someone incredibly strong to endure something so horrific.
I wonder why England was creating so many Enemies. Between the French and Spaniards they seemed to not make a lot of allies.

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Julia

9/17/2014 02:42:17 pm

What I really enjoyed about this video was the culture it portrayed. Even when slaves would rebel and run away and stand up for themselves they showed culture with one another in the form of passion. They were are passionate about becoming free and I though it was a really important time in US history because of all the standing up for themselves that was being done!

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Jordan Farrah

9/17/2014 02:45:18 pm

I thought the story of priscilla was interesting. From coming to america as an orphan and then having to do hard dangerous work she somehow lived through it all. I think her story can be used in all of our lives to show that we can work through any problems in life no matter how hard they are to get through.

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TJ

9/17/2014 02:46:12 pm

I really liked how varied the documentary was, how it ranged from a variety of different subjects.

Information wise, I really was surprised that enough slaves managed to escape to create Haiti which was supposed to be something like a free land for slaves. What is more fascinating is that enough slaves managed to escape and get away that there was enough to create an entire functioning nation. Everyone makes it sound as if no slaves escaped and every slave involved was either killed, raped, or remained a slave forever. I also thought it was cool how they covered a lot of the fine details that aren't ever really mentioned.

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Mrs. Clark

9/20/2014 10:37:17 am

The slaves in Haiti revolted and that is how the country was started.

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Lucas LeVieux

9/17/2014 02:54:26 pm

One of the most interesting facts to me is how Haiti had so many slaves that the culture inverted, with the Africans on top and the white people below. I thought slave revolt was an impossibility, and the other slaves probably did too. This revolt would be very heartening if I was a slave. The most emotionally connective part was the part where he talked about the life of the one slave. This made me feel what it would be like to have that kind of life.

I wonder what happened inside of the slave holds in the ships. Did they speak? Did they sing?

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Dylan L

9/17/2014 03:48:18 pm

Ooh. Lucas, I completely agree in finding the Haiti topic very interesting/ and impossibility.

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Justin Reyes

9/17/2014 02:54:57 pm

This film was just absolutely mindblowing. One of the most interesting parts of the video was when the Africans revolted against the Americans and created Haiti. It just shows how much cooperation took place during this event, because they needed the masses in order for this to set forth. The freedom of the Africans paid a price, but the point being said is that they were able to rise above and thrive to achieve their own freedom. This was able to set a great example since the outcome was successful, and the slaves that overheard all the conversations inspired them to do the same as well. I wonder how the slave masters reacted towards the revolt.

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Alex de Villiers

9/17/2014 03:09:15 pm

I never realized how much of an impact black culture had on the United Sates. Without African Americans the Unites States probably wouldn't be the way it is today. The video showed me how much of an impact African Americans had on culture, starting from the food they made to the types of music they sang while they were working. I feel like most people don't understand how important African American culture is in America.

I also thought that the first slave in America was really interesting too, like the fact that he worked as a slave, but eventually worked so much that his master gave him his freedom back and gave him some land. Slavery could have turned out different if the government had recognized African Americans and people instead of objects. Like after the first slave passed away he gave his land to his family, but the government took it away from them because they weren't recognized as people and they were sentenced to slavery.

One thing I wonder about is what would America be like if slavery didn't exist at all here.

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Sarah Lockhart

9/17/2014 03:30:30 pm

I thought that the part about St. Augustine in Florida was really fascinating because I hadn't heard of it before. The most intriguing parts for me were that the Native Americans would tell slaves about about it and that it grew to be so large Fort Mose was built. I think African slaves had an incredible impact on the foundation of America, but aren't talked about or respected like they should be. It's a topic that Americans aren't proud of and is swept under the rug, so to speak. I wonder why so little is said about slavery aside from the brief, unemotional courses taught in most pubic schools.

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Dylan L

9/17/2014 03:47:10 pm

I think that the story of Priscilla was really amazing. The fact that her owner kept such accurate logs of the slaves so that present day ancestors could track her back is astounding. I felt that the description of the harsh life on the boats being shipped over was very accurate, and very painful. It hurt just to listen and see the illustrations, and it made me really understand what the slaves were going through. In the documentary it said that George Washington was a pretty big slave master. I wonder how many other famous "perfect/great" people had slaves. Hearing this makes George not seem as great as all our old history lessons taught us.

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Grant

9/17/2014 04:05:16 pm

I found the film to be very interesting to me because I didn't know that most plantation owners would hide their slaves ancestry. They would almost try to make them invisible other than their first name. I also was surprised after hearing this when they were able to uncover the past of one slave. Another fact I didn't know before watching the video was how Hati was formed. This makes me think that the forming of Haiti was a major breakthrough and a step towards ending slavery.

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Kane

9/17/2014 04:10:59 pm

I also had no idea that hati was formed by slave revolt. But I think it is an interesting subject, where all the times slaves have been oppressed they put in a fight.

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Kane McGrath

9/17/2014 04:08:37 pm

I thought the video was very interesting especially the focus on slave revolt I always found it interesting how the force that is being oppressed rises up against their masters. I think my favorite example was the forming of Haiti I didn't know he was originally formed but now I know it is a result of revolting slaves wanting a place to be free.

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Benjamin Rose

9/17/2014 04:09:13 pm

All of this was really surprising to me. I mean, the manner in which the slaves got here from Africa isn’t a typical thing that runs through the mind of the average white American. Slavery is one of those things that you’re taught, you accept as a not-so-proud part of this country’s past, and then you move on from. Never once in my life have I ever heard of or seen anyone explore the subject this deeply. I find it very interesting how slavery, albeit of a different sort, had already existed among African tribes before the Europeans set foot on the land. I wonder how they managed to forge a mutual understanding about slave trade?

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Nicole Matteson

9/17/2014 04:40:48 pm

What cought my eye in the film was how they talked about the developing culture that was created by the slaves. I thought it was interesting how that particular statement was mentioned because it related to the main question we have up on the board in class. The african culture, in my opinion, evolved when they were brought to the americas because they had to adapt to the new surroundings and just try to get by. How their food changed and how many people fell inlove with their southern dishes. I wonder if slavery never became as extreme and violent as it did, if america today would be durrastically different, either in a better way, or worse.

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Jonathan Richeson

9/17/2014 04:56:02 pm

I thought that even though african slaves came to the Americas with nothing, literally had everything even culture taken from them, they were able to rebuild. Even under the watchful eye of the slave owners the slave were able to create culture and form bonds with one another. I feel as though if it were not for the african slaves of this time America either wouldn't be here, or would be worse off. I wonder if anyone back then could have predicted the rise of such a culture from slaves?

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Eamonn McGuiness

9/17/2014 11:26:59 pm

It shocked me how the slaves were treated on the way to the Americas. First of all they were packed so tight together that they could barely move. As a result of these they would get disease and die from each other's feces and bodily fluids. In fact so many died that sharks would follow the boat. They also had to put up with beatings, and if they were a woman than sexual favors. I can't believe how they were treated like this and still went on to live even if it meant to be a slave.

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Isaac Fernandez

9/18/2014 01:13:12 am

I came in halfway throughout the video, but what I had heard about Priscilla was that her acendants are still alive now! That is super insane to me! Now onto to the rebels, I liked how it was talking about the slave owners thinking that the slaves knew nothing about weapons or anything. Then, the slaves go onto starting a mini rebellion. The part about that only 100 slaves got together made me have respect for them. I am positive they knew that they didn't think they would all make it out alive, I think it was more of them showing other slaves to have courage even if meant death. The Washington slave part was interesting seeing that one of the most respected presidents was one of the biggest slave owners too. When the slaves had went to the colony that was made for slaves by the British and then they got more stuff taken away, showed how terrible it was for the slaves. I thought it went too far when they took away literacy from the slaves later on!! That's something that no one should have the right to take away! This video really showed how we stunted their growth pretty much.

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Allison Hopkins

9/18/2014 01:16:09 am

Think: I thought that this video was well made, it put the information in a way that it was easy to understand and pay attention to. In class we learned about how the slave women would be raped on the ships during transportation but during this video was the first time that what the women would do if they were impregnated was brought up. I found this information shocking and hard to comprehend. It is hard for me to imagine a women doing that to herself and her child. Although they did bring up the argument that these women didn't want to bring a child into their world which is understandable but still difficult to imagine.
Feel: I feel that these women were brave to do abort their child like they did instead of bringing them into a world that they themselves did want to be in.
Wonder: I wonder how many women were impregnated and how many kept the children.

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George Downey

9/18/2014 01:28:03 am

I think its really important that people know that Africa wasn't "perfect until the white man came" or in any great deal of harmony and universal acceptance. Africa is a country marred by war to this very day and this I say is a minor reason why they were not as advanced as the Europeans and thus fell into the "third world". The idea that these varying tribes would declare war on each other is completely realistic and I think we shouldn't just blame the death and enslavement or white Europeans, who are still in the wrong, but slavery would not be what it is today if the Africans had not been open to it.

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Noah Legier

9/18/2014 02:19:00 am

I feel that ship life must have been very hard. No matter how hard i try, i cant imagine up to 100 days of torture and being submerged in your own excrement. i wonder how the slaves ate. It is also terrifying that a pregnant woman would get so desperate to not have a child she would go to such extreme measures as to kill the baby in crude ways.

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Morgan

9/18/2014 02:42:29 am

The part that struck most is how the slave ships were so brutal and so many people died that sharks would literally follow them and eat the bodies of the deceased. I also found it interesting that the british officers in Sierra leone would treat slaves like cattle and have fake fireplaces even though it is the tropics and they had their own small leisurely golf course where they could go play. It also was crazy how the spanish started to offer slaves freedom if they joined the spanish militia and so many slaves ran away and came they had to build their own town for them.

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